Calcium Reactor vs. Dosing Pumps

[john.m.cole3]

I'm at that upgrade level for dosing I think. Right now I'm running kalk through a kalk dispenser hooked up to my ATO. My alkalinity swings between 8.3 and 9.3 each week. When it gets to 8.3 dkh, I add a tsp of kalk, it goes up to 9.3 the next day, then falls back to 8.3 over a weeks time. I want my alkalinity to be more stable. MUCH more stable. I am now starting to look at either a CaRx or a doser. Tell me about which one you would go with.

 

[jsker]

Ha, you know where I stand on this one, I like my dosed alk through the doser. Very consistent.

 

[Downbeach]

I started my dosing with kalk in my top off, which was sufficient at keeping my numbers where I wanted them, between WC's, for a couple years. After I started adding SPS, I had to start supplementing the fully saturated kalkwasser with alk and then Ca supplements. Ultimately, I added dosing pumps for all three(Ca, Alk, Kalk), and dosed 24/7. I didn't have the room under my DT for the equipment needed for a CaRx(dual chamber reactor, CO2 bottle, etc.), so dosing pumps was my best option. All my numbers(pH, Ca, Alk) were kept very stable with this arrangement. I never had to dose Mg, as my WC's kept it near 1350ppm.

 

[Waterjockey]

I ran Kalk through my ATO for the better part of a year. I just switched to a dosing pump for kalk this week.
While my alk was fairly stable, with a mostly lps reef, I required a less than saturated kalk solution....it began to become a bit of a pain in the butt to dial in the kalk strength everytime I made a new batch.
Since moving to a dosing pump, I can just make a full strength batch of kalk every time (more consistant= even more stable I hope), and I will have a lot more control by being able to simply dial in the dosing time. (Currentry running 2 min, every hour on my 30 gal system)

 

[Bpb]

If you have the scratch, a calcium reactor is the top dog. It's as hands off and stable as you could possibly expect within reason, and if appropriately sized, can offer a virtually limitless amount of supplementation without requiring any manual input, mixing, salinity spiking, or space hogging. But. To do it properly is expensive. If the money is there and you have the desire, go big. If you're on a major budget, and need greater stability and have an apex or reef keeper controller, some dosing pumps and 2 part chemicals are the way to go.

 

[john.m.cole3]

right now BRS has their brand of additives and 2 1.1 ml/min pumps on sale for $140. Those would require a controller. The reef keeper lite is about $100 right now. So $240 gets me going there. I want a CaRx sized for 120 gallon tank. How much would it be to pull the trigger on a system that size?

 

[sinekal]

I think it's worth noting how easy it is to set up dosers and to dial them in and adjust them as your system requirements change. They certainly can require more frequent interaction to mix supplements and keep containers full compared to a reactor, but the reactor is certainly harder to set up the first time out of the gate.

 

[Bpb]

With a calcium reactor the reactor and media itself isn't the costly part. If you want it to be truly stable, you need a quality ph probe, controller, good regulator (either a dual stage or at least a carbon doser) which is going to run 250-500 bucks depending on what you get. And a quality continuous duty peristaltic pump which will run between 250-500 bucks too

 

[reefwiser]

Both work well CalRX are generally used on large tanks from 120 gallons on up. As they tend to have a lot of corals that require a higher amount of cal and alk daily. So the cost of liquids can be offset with the CalRx. I use a GHL doser on my tank to add the cal and alk it lets you program it easliy without a controller. An they come in 2 pump up to 4 pump units.
The Doser 2 is on sale right now too. GHL Doser 2 Sale